Looms with stationary weft supply



M. D. DURAN Oct. 3, 1967 LOOMS WITH STATIONARY WEFT SUPPLY 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 6, 1966 INVENTOR:

MAG/N DESVEUS OUR/UV yam 923m ATTORNEY Oct. 3, 1967 M. D. DURAN LOOMSWITH STATIONARY WEFT SUPPLY Filed April 6, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTOR; MA Gl/V 0551/5115 DURAN ATTORNEY United States Patent3,344,812 LOOMS WITH STATIONARY WEFT SUPPLY Magin Desveus Duran, SanOlegario 35, Sabadell, Spain Filed Apr. 6, 1966, Ser. No. 540,544 Claimspriority, application Spain, Apr. 6, 1965, 311,799 6 Claims. (Cl.139123) The present invention relates to looms with a stationary weftsupply, and more particularly to rapier looms. In a rapier loom, weftinsertion is carried out by a rapier, which is projected into the warpshed from one side to carry a loop or strand of weft into the shed. Therapier has to be guided and for this purpose, it is known to provide aseries of guides on the sley, each guide being formed with a horizontalslot or recess in which the rapier slides, the guides being relativelynarrow and having rounded tops, to allow warp threads to pass down eachside of the guides into the lowered shed position. In this knownarrangement alternate guides are placed on opposite sides of the rapierpath, the slots of all the guides on each side being aligned to providean effective guide across, the width of the loom.

It is a disadvantage of the known arrangement that the rapier tends towear the ends of the slots, thereby cutting the slots deeper so thateventually the tops of the guides break off, and the guides have to bereplaced frequently. The object of this invention is to overcome thisdisadvantage.

According to this invention a guide element for the rapier of a rapierloom has an open-ended horizontal slot with converging sides. With sucha guide element it is possible to make the rapier head of such athickness that the edges of the head engage on the converging sides andthe head does not engage with the end of the slot.

Preferably, the slot is V-shaped and it is also preferred to make theedges of the rapier head V-shaped, with the sides of the slot at a moreacute angle to each other than those of the V-shaped edge of the rapierhead.

According to a further preferred feature of the invention, the strap towhich the head of the rapier is connected is narrower than the head sothat it does not wear the edges of the slots in the guide members.

One construction of guide means for the rapier in a rapier loom will nowbe described by way of example only, with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the head end of a rapier,

FIGURE 2 is a cross-section through a rapier loom sley, with a rapierhead in a projected position,

FIGURE 3 is a detailed front view of a guide element, and

FIGURE 4 is a plan view of the parts shown in FIG- URE 2.

Referring to FIGURE 1, there is shown a rapier for a loom comprising ametal head 1 to which is attached a hook device (not shown) whichcarries the weft through the shed of the warp threads. The hook is notdescribed here, because it forms no part of the present invention, andthere are various types of hooks which could be carried by the rapier. Asteel strap 2 is fixed at one end to the head 1, the other end beinganchored on the rapier drive mechanism (not shown). The strap 2 has tobe long enough to allow the rapier head to carry the weft the requireddistance into the shed; but it will be noted that it is considerablynarrower than the head 1, and it is also thinner.

The edges 3 and 4 of the head are double bevelled to produce an edgeportion of substantially V-shaped crosssection (see FIGURE 2).

Referring now to FIGURES 2, 3 and 4, the loom sley 3,344,812 PatentedOct. 3, 1967 15 carries a series of rapier guide elements 5, which arearranged across the full effective length of the sley, in abuttingrelationship (see FIGURE 4) the elements being secured to the sley byscrews 11. Each element 5 comprises a base portion 12, and an upstandinglug 13, the lugs being tapered *(see FIGURE 4) and rounded on top (seeFIGURE 3) to allow warp threads to divide easily on each side of thelug. An open ended slot 6 is formed in the upper part of each lug 13,and it will be noted that alternate elements 5 are set with their lugson opposite sides. This arrangement enables all the slots 6 on each sideof the sley to provide an effective guide for the edge of the rapierhead. Each element 5 is made in nylon or other hard wearing material.

The slots 6 are V-s'haped, with substantially horizontal top faces 7,curved upwardly at their inside ends, and flat downwardly and inwardlysloping bottom faces 8. The faces of the slots 6 make more acute angleswith each other than the bevelled edges 3 and 4 of the rapier, and thedimensions of the slots are such that the rapier head engages with thefaces 7 and 8 but does not penetrate to the inner end 9 of each slot.This prevents the head wearing the slot deeper than it is originallyformed and so reducing the width of material 10 in the lug 13 betweenthe slot 6 and the opposite edge of the lug.

In practice there may be a certain amount of play between the head 1 andthe faces 7 and 8 of the guide slots so that the head will tend to reston the faces 8; but the dimensions must still be such as to preventengagement of the edges of the rapier head with the bottoms 9 of theslots.

I claim:

1. A rapier guide element for a rapier loom wherein at least one side ofsaid rapier has a longitudinally extending bevelled side edge, saidelement having a hori zontally open slot having outwardly divergingupper and lower sides for slidably engaging said bevelled rapier edge.

2. The guide element defined in claim 1, wherein the relative angularityof the contacting surfaces of said slot sides and the bevelled side edgeof said rapier is such that said rapier does not engage the apex of theslot.

3. The guide element defined in claim 2, wherein said slot is V-shapedand its sides extend to enclose an acute angle less than the anglebetween the bevelled rapier side edge surfaces.

4. In a rapier loom, rapier guide means comprising a series of guideelements arranged along the sides of the rapier path, each of said guideelements having a horizontally inwardly open slot with divergent sidesfor slidable engagement with said rapier, and in combination therewith arapier of such cross section that its opposite side surfaces extend intosaid slots to slidably engage the slot sides without engaging thebottoms of said slots.

5. In the rapier loom defined in claim 4, said slot sides each definingan acute angle, and said opposite side surfaces of said rapier havingbevelled contacting surfaces defining an acute angle larger than saidslot side angle.

6. In the rapier loom defined in claim 4, a strap secured to saidrapier, the width of said strap being sufficiently small that it doesnot engage said slot sides.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,316,703 4/ 1943' Moessinger139188 3,263,707 8/1966 Kubelka et a1 1'39'l22 3,299,9 1 1 1 1967* Dewas139123 MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner.

H. JAUDON, Assistant Examiner.

1. A RAPIER GUIDE ELEMENT FOR A RAPIER LOOM WHEREIN AT LEAST ONE SIDE OF SAID RAPIER HAS A LONGITUDINALLY EXTENDING BEVELLED SIDE EDGE, SAID ELEMENT HAVING A HORIZONTALLY OPEN SLOT HAVING OUTWARDLY DIVERGING UPPER AND LOWER SIDES FOR SLIDABLY ENGAGING SAID BEVELLED RAPIER EDGE. 